They had been arrested in Israel since last week and were deported this Tuesday to Jordan
The 13 Brazilians who participated in the launched on Tuesday (7) a fundraising campaign to fund the group’s return to the country. They had been arrested in Israel since last week and were deported this Tuesday to Jordan.
The activists were transferred by land of the prison of KTZI’OT, in the Neguev Desert, to the neighboring country, where they receive assistance from Brazilian consular authorities. “The embassy organized medical care to evaluate the health of each one,” says the statement from Flotilha.
The organization says that “the Brazilian government has not yet proposed to pay the participants’ passage” and, therefore, would be launching a collection campaign.
Itamaraty issued a note earlier on Tuesday stating that embassies diplomats in Tel Aviv and Amman received the activists, which were “transported to the Jordanian capital in a vehicle arranged by the Brazilian embassy.”
The group was captured in international waters, according to a statement issued by the organizers, during a mission trying to pierce the blockade imposed by Tel Aviv and deliver humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip.
Among the members of the group detained by Israel in the previous endeavor of the organization, federal deputy Luizianne Lins (PT-CE), Councilwoman Mariana Conti (PSOL), Campinas, and the president of the party in Rio Grande do Sul, Gabrielle Tolotti. There are also other Pro-Palestinian militants and trade unionists, including Magno de Carvalho Costa, a historic leader of Sintusp (USP Workers Union).
Before Tuesday’s deportation, the only member of the Brazilian group that had already left Israel was Nicolás Calabrese. Despite living in Brazil for over ten years, he was born in Argentina and has Italian citizenship. Upon landing on Monday night (6) at Galeão airport in Rio de Janeiro, he complained of abuse and said that Israeli forces acted as terrorists.
The 45 Flotilha boats came from Barcelona, Spain, on August 31, taking approximately 400 activists from more than 45 countries, and began to be intercepted last Wednesday (1st). Activists of other nationalities who have already left Israel and had their deportation proceedings also said they had suffered abuse within the prison, which Tel Aviv denies.
According to a statement issued by Global Sumud on Monday night, the decision on the deportation was communicated after representatives of the Brazilian Embassy in Tel Aviv visited the detainees in prison.
In addition to Brazilians, activists from other countries, such as Argentina, Colombia, South Africa and New Zealand, should also be released on Tuesday.
Liberation occurred on the same day as the war in Gaza turns two years. The conflict has already left tens of thousands of dead and generated an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. In a statement, the mission organizers stated that the maritime action aimed to denounce Israel’s blockade to the Gaza Strip since 2007-and that, according to them, has turned since March this year into a total siege, preventing the entry of food and medicines.
For the group, the release of Brazilians has symbolic value. “The freedom of our members on October 7 carries a symbol of resistance, but it also reminds us that there is no true freedom as long as the siege persists,” says the note. “It is urgent that the international community acts concretely to end the occupation and guarantee the freedom of the Palestinian people.”
